Manufacture of telephone quads



Mar-ch26, 1968 R. LEMAIRE MANUFACTURE OF TELEPHONE QUADS Filed June 9, 1965 United States Patent 3,374,810 MANUFACTURE OF TELEPHONE QUADS Roland Lemaire, Fere-en-Tardenois, France, assignor to Societe Etudes et Fabrications, Paris, France Filed June 9, 1965, Ser. No. 462,521

Claims priority, application France, June 11, 1964,

977,935 Claims. (Cl. 140-149) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wire quad manufacturing machine comprising a framework which is rotatable about a horizontal axis and which supports cradle members in horizontally spaced relation, each of which in turn supports an associated reel of wire for free rotation about a horizontal axis and from which the wire is drawn, by a pulling means common to all of the wires, through a die plate means located beyond an endmost cradle member which is also common to all of the wires. Positioned between each reel and the die plate means is a pulley on which the wire passes for substantially a complete turn, the pulley being acted on by an adjustable brake-shoe for the application of an adjustable braking action on the pulley.

The present invention relates to an improved type of quadding machine, i.e., a machine for manufacturing telephone-wire quads for telephone cables.

Such a machine is adapted to assemble, in the form of a quad a number of four telephone wires, each derived from a separate reel and spirally twisted in reciprocating relationship. During the quadding operation, it is essential that the tension stress or resistance of the wires with respect to their forward motion be accurately controlled.

The invention is more particularly useful in connection with high-production quadding machines whose reel-supporting frame rotates at a comparatively high speed. In such a quadding machine, the reels are arranged one behind the other, along the axis of rotation, and the path of the wires between the reels from which they derive and the die plate in which they are assembled have different lengths.

According to the invention, the machine comprises separately adjustable braking means, effective to act on various wires so as to compensate for the differences in the resistance presented by the wires to the common traction effort exercised thereon and which are due to their ditferent length of path.

Thus, an improved type of quadding machine according to this invention comprises means enabling, in spite of the differences in the path lengths, to render the feeding conditions at the die plate of the various wires rigorously identical.

The invention will be best understood from the following description and appended drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of one embodiment of the quadding machine according to the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view of a braking device.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view along line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a schematic front view, at an enlarged scale.

On the stand of the machine, as illustrated in FIG- URE 1, there is a framework 11 comprised of four plate members mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis XX; said plate members 12 12 12 12., carry oscillating cradles 13 13 13 13 respectively, on which are mounted for rotation about their axes, reels 14 14 14 14 respectively, from which issue the four wires 1, 2, 3 and 4, which, after having passed through a die plate 15 3,374,810 Patented Mar. 26, 1968 urged by the drawing device 16, form the desired quad assembly 17. The framework 11 is rotated by an electric motor 18, the pull of the quad being effected by means of an electric motor 19 the speed of Which may be adjusted relative to the speed of rotation of the framework 11.

Guiding means are provided for each wire between the reel from which it is issued and the assembling die plate 15. For the wire 4, which is nearest to the die plate 15, these guide means consist of a single or of a plurality of pulleys such as 20, but which do not offer any appreciable resistance to the forward motion of the wire under the action of the drawing device. Wire 3 issued from reel 14 at a greater distance from the die plate 15 than reel 14 is guided, between plate 12 and plate 12 by means of a tube 21 the length of which corresponds to the spacing between the two plates. Wire 2 issued from reel 14 is, in turn, guided by a longitudinal tube 21 the length of which corresponds to the spacing between plates 12 and 12 which is substantially twice the spacing between plates 12 and 12 Wire 1 issued from reel 14 is guided by a tube 21 whose length corresponds to thet distance between plate 12 and plate 12 which is substantially three times as large as the spacing between plate 12 and plate 12 Said tubes emerge at the outer periphery of plate 12 in order for the wire strands 22 -22 to form the required angle with the axial direction of draw.

During the operation of the machine, plates 12 rotate at a g eat speed with the guide tubes 21 integral therewith, the wire running through said tubes being applied by the centrifugal force against the wall of said tubes, the friction forces between a wire drawn by device 16 and the tube being substantially high, and in any case different for the different wires: these forces are twice as great for wire 2 than for wire 3, and they are three times as great for wire 1 than for wire 3.

According to the invention, each one of the strands 22 22 22 22., is passed over a braking device adjusted so as to equalize the forces of resistance developed on the various wires relative to the common traction effort applied thereon by the drawing device 16.

One embodiment of such a braking device is illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3. A wire strand 23 issued from plate 12., passes over a pulley 24 over which it achieves a nearly complete turn, and leaves the latter along a strand 25 which enters the die plate 15. Onto a ring member 25' adjacent pulley 24, there is applied the action of a brake-shoe 26 secured on the end portion of a lever 27 and whose application pressure may be' adjusted by means of spring biased screw member 28, the spring being shown at 29. The various braking devices 31 are adjusted in such a manner that each one of the wires 1, 2, 3, 4 offers, between the pulley 14 from which it is issued and die-plate 15, the same resistance to the traction effort applied thereon. The braking device 31 is adjusted to a maximum value, since no resistance other than that exercized by said device is supported by wire 4 which traverse no guide-tube; the braking device 31 is adjusted in such a manner as to offer a resistance which is lower than that of the device 31 device 31 is adjusted to a still lower value, while device 31 is adjusted to the lowest value, which may even be null, the resistance introduced by device 31 being then equal to that introduced during the passage through tube 21 over its whole length, by wire 1 during the rotation of plates 12.

Thus, a quad 17 is obtained whose spiral pitch of the constitutive wires follow precisely the same path.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for manufacturing wire quads, comprising a framework, means for rotating said framework about an axis, cradle members supported on the framework in spaced relation along said axis, means for supporting a reel of wire on each cradle member for free rotation about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said framework, die plate means common to said wires located beyond an endmost cradle member, pulling means common to said wires for pulling the wires from the reels and through the die plate means, pulley means between each reel and the die plate means for receiving the associated wire and passing the same for substantially a whole turn on said pulley means, and brake-shoe means adjacent each pulley means for application of an adjustable braking action thereon.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 comprising longitudinal guide-tube means supported from the'framework for guiding the wires of a quad from the respective reels from which they are issued, to said common die plate means.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pulley means comprises a pulley for each reel on which the wire thereof passes, and a ring adjacent said pulley on which the brake-shoe means is applied.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3 wherein said brakeshoe means comprises a pivotal lever, a brake-shoe on said lever adapted for contact with the ring of an associated pulley means, and adjustable spring means acting on the lever for controlling the pressure of the brake-shoe on the ring. 5. A machine as claimed in claim 3 wherein said axis of rotation of the framework is horizontal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,169,828 8/1939 Wolf 57166 2,833,110 5/1958 FredrikssOn et a1. 5759 2,920,437 1/ 1960 Stark 5759 FOREIGN PATENTS.

182,010 1/ 1936 Switzerland. 495,255 11/ 1938 Great Britain. 525,393 1/ 1954 Belgium.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner. 

